October 2006 | Mindful Living
Brain Beverages
Here’s some juicy news for your brain and preventing Alzheimer’s disease. A new study published in the American Journal and Medicine that involved Seattle residents as one of the experimental groups shows that consuming fruit and vegetable juices more than three times per week can signifcantly lower Alzheimer’s risk compared to individuals who don’t regularly drink such liquids.
Dr. Eric Larson of the locally-based Group Health was one of the primary investigators. Larson and his colleagues followed nearly 2,000 Japanese-descent participants in Seattle, Hawaii and Japan for up to 10 years. The more frequent juice drinkers at greater than three times weekly showed 76 percent less incidence of Alzheimer’s or dementia than subjects who drank juice less than once per week. Even individuals who consumed juice at least once or twice per week showed a 16 percent reduction in brain problems.
Recent studies of Alzheimer’s disease biochemistry have focused on the accumulation of beta-amyloid peptide in the brain, and the action of hydrogen peroxide in mediating this process.
Some research has suggested polyphenols, a specific category of antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables, might disrupt brain cell degeneration. But of antioxidant vitamin supplements have been disappointing. The Group Health study is the first to examine juices rich in polyphenols as a preventive measure for Alzheimer’s disease.
More research is needed, but remember that a serving of juice is six ounces, so we are not talking huge volumes here. Drinking fresh-squeezed and a variety of juices—especially making an effort to consume vegetable juices—is the health-maximizing approach.
—Andrew Mulholland
Clicking Away on Carbon
The Ballard neighborhood means different things to different people. Maybe as the best area in town to buy smoked fish or as home of the best pastry bakery or as a great place for the kids to grow up.
For Tracy Carroll, Ballard presents an opportunity. He wants to convince local residents and merchants to work together to become the first carbon-neutral community in the country. He visualizes this offset of global warming as feasible by year-end, mostly by having folks get online to figure out the size of a home or company’s carbon dioxide output.
The number hinges on your electricity and gas use, propane consumption, driving, commuting and travel habits, plus the size of your home or business. Anyone can calculate a personal number with a few clicks at an online carbon calculator. Check out www.achievenetgreen.com.
The resident or business owner can neutralize the carbon by making a donation to a nonprofit organization that will use the money for projects that slow global warming, such as wind or solar energy generation or reforesting.
As one of the co-founders of Flex Car, is currently executive director of Net Green, a Seattle nonprofit created to campaign for carbon offsetting. Net Green is a go-between for the Portland-based Climate Trust that establishes carbon-neutralizing projects.
The [global warming] debate is over,” says Carroll, “and we need to act now.”
You can lower your personal carbon “footprint” by driving your car less, recycling, reusing items, decreasing energy use in your home (using energy-efficient light bulbs can be a significant saver) and even switching to a push lawn mower.
—A.M.
Get This Party Started
The Washington Toxics Coalition will be celebrating its 25th anniversary Oct. 11 with an “Auction for Action” event at the Bell Harbor Conference Center on the city’s waterfront. But, truth is, the eco-activists based at the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford started partying a while back.
That’s because in last August a federal judge here in Seattle overturned new Bush administration rules that made it easier for pesticide makers to sidestep accountability for the effects of their products on endangered plants and animals.
The Washington Toxics Coalition was part of a group of organization that filed a lawsuit when the Bush administration instituted the new rules.
"Pesticides are driving America’s wildlife toward extinction, and this administration wants to remove the checks and balances that hold them accountable,” said Patti Goldman, an attorney with Earthjustice and a key figure in filing the lawsuit.
Under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the law mandates that the Environmental Protection Agency consult with wildlife specialists in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service.
But pesticide lobbyists wanted to circumvent the wildlife scientists, allowing pesticide managers at the EPA to make the decisions. In a bold stroke for hope and truth, the judge determined the rules were “arbitrary and capricious” because they ignored the risks to species and because political appointees at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ignored the concerns of its own scientists.
Back to the auction. Festivities begin at 5:30 with a reception and silent auction, followed by an organic dinner and a live auction at 7:30. The guest speaker will be Gary Cohen, co-executive director of Health Care Without Harm, the international campaign for environmentally responsible healthcare. Cohen is also a member of the International Advisory Board of the Sambhavna Clinic and Documentation Center, which provides free medical care to the survivors of the Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal.
Tickets are $85. Register at 206-632-1545 x 115 or [click to e-mail]
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